Need advice on upgrade.

I have an HP.520W and I wish to upgrade,need help and advice,what parts I need and where to buy them. What I would like is an AMD.64bit 3000 or 3200. I don't know anything about mother boards or what to buy. Also don't what the difference is between the 754 and 939 sockets. I would also need 512mgs of ram. I will use the drives and cables from the HP. What else will I need. I found a cheap case that I like,I like the LED.on the front,do you think this will work? http://www.acortech.com/.sc/ms/dd/1...er HS-712-4HLW-S-BW 420 Watt W^2FTemp Control

 

As you can see on the description of that case, it's recommended for Pentium 4 motherboards and unfortunately not Athlon 64 motherboards so I wouldn't get that. Take a look on newegg.com for some they have a good range.

Difference between 754 and 939 isn't much reaaaaaally, although 939 will eventually replace 754, just like the semprons have replaced the athlon xp cpu's.
If you have the extra cash, go for the 939, and I'd go for at least the 3200. Get either an Asus or Abit motherboard probably for this cpu and then get a 512mb ram, probably pc3200 type. Oh, and go for a brand name such as Kingston.

Hope theres some help there!

 

mcadam88 thanks. I didn't see that on the case,will look closer next time. I have been looking at the amd.64 3200+ and CHAINTECH NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU, Model "VNF4/Ultra" mbo,hadn't thought about the Asus or Abit. Do you think they are better? Appreciate your help.

 

OK well with that motherboard, you have no agp, just pci express, which is fine if you're getting a brand new graphics card, as in radeon x800 pci express version.
I would recommend abit or asus purely for their reliability and have had no problems with them in the past.

 

That case says P4 because the power supply has the extra 12 volt power plug for a p4. There is no reason to expect it won't work for an AMD system. As far as Asus MBs go they are great if they work, but heaven help you if you need to deal with Asus tech support. It is nothing short of a trip through hell.

 

A couple of points you may want to consider when buying a case. In my opinion, it is better to have a case with a 120 mm fan in front and back. The bigger fans move more air more quietly than a bunch of small ones. i also prefer a case that has a tube from the case side that allows the processor fan to draw in cooler outside air, rather than use the preheated air inside the case. A blowhole is also good. but is less of a concern than the large fans. In addition, a HDD cage that extends to the bottom of the case allows you to keep a space between multiple HDs to keep them cooler (hence the front fan). I also like to remove the stamped grill over the fan holes to further improve airflow (if necessary, add a wire grill). A removeable screen over the front intake to catch dust is also nice, but not a requirement. A pretty case is nice, but a functional, quiet system is more important. Just a few things to think about; from experience these things work.

 

I'm a Asus motherboard fan, and also partial to MSI or giga-byte (to a lessor degree). I know chaintech is less expensive, but in my opinion, never, ever scrimpt on the motherboard. Everything starts here, the chipset they use are critical to the performance of the machine and your options. Always go with a quality motherboard and powersupply. Once you have the foundation set for your PC, everything else is exchangeable/upgradable!

wuf@bark.arf

 

Definitely go with an Asus mobo, they are very well known for producing the best mobo's on the market and always a safe bet.

I recommend this board available at Newegg.com (939 socket). It has ATA as well as SATA controllers so you will be able to use your old hard drives/optical drives and upgrade to SATA later if you want ($139).

You can throw in whatever AMD Athlon 64/64FX processor strikes your fancy, this is really just how much power and money you want/want to spend.

I'd recommend 2 sticks of 512mb ram PC3200... Kingston, Crucial, or Corsair
available at newegg.com for 100 bucks including shipping (Corsair Value) or Kinston for 110 bucks but they are equal quality in my book. You will want two sticks of equal size in order to run in dual channel mode.

Get a PCI-express card, I'm a big fan of AGP but it looks like its beat in terms of performance per buck. A nice Asus Geforce 6600GT is available here. It runs at 1 Ghz hehe... very sexy.

As far as that case you want goes. It looks great for the price but I would read some reviews on it simply because working with a cheap/flimsy case is the most annoying thing when building a new PC. I personally like to buy a big old skyscraper case, prefer Antec, with no extras simply because it is like a rock and easy to work in. The flat construction also allows you to do some "outside of the box" modifications, I've been known to take the sawz-all to my cases in the past to install fans where fans were previously not able to be installed.

This is what I would do, just being specific. Others should comment on my choices.

 

I still would recommend that you buy a case with a psu designed for both intel and amd motherboards.

 

The fact that its P4 compatible does not in any way mean it is not AMD compatible. If the AMD requires an ATX power supply, any ATX PSU of sufficient rating will work, whether it has the extra plug for a P4 or not. I think you would be hard pressed to find a new PSU that does not have that extra 12 volt 4 pin plug, that is required for a P4.